


The funni ones

by str3sslevelzer0



Category: D&D - Fandom
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:15:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26521276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/str3sslevelzer0/pseuds/str3sslevelzer0
Summary: Harper is d u m b d u m b and doesn’t listen to people





	The funni ones

**Author's Note:**

> Im not really a fan of the ending but i am too much of a fan of how this played out to scrap it sooo

It was a simple task honestly, get up the mountain, get the statue, leave, easy right?

That's what the Aarakocra thought as he moved up the snow-covered trail, the winds were too harsh for Harper to fly, and that gave him another few hours of travel to wonder why they didn't just get Cassidy to do this instead of himself, but he was too far in to complain about anything.

The winds had finally got hard enough for it to actually start biting at Harper through his clothes and his feathers, add on top of that the fact that Harper wasn't used to walking more than a mile without being able to fly, and he felt like he was ready to collapse. Thankfully he had come across a crevice in the side of the mountain, large enough to fit him comfortably and still insulate him somewhat.

If he had to guess he still had about 2 hours of travel time ahead of him but seeing that he couldn’t currently do any actual progression, he figured setting up camp would be the best option for now.

As he rolled out his sleeping mat he couldn’t help but feel… uneasy, like he was being watched from every angle, he felt exposed despite being surrounded by rock and stone, away from any eyes. Harper put aside his mat and began to light a torch he kept in his bag (if you asked him, he would say it was just a precaution to keep away wolves, but really it was to calm his suspicions that something was actually in the cave with him). 

As the fire sparked to life, he could see that the cave was empty, but not a good kind of empty, the cave felt devoid of everything, life, air, everything, like the light of the torch was suffocating whatever was keeping the cave inhabitable. It was only when he began to examine the cave more closely that he noticed a section of the cave that was unlit by the light, despite not being blocked by anything in its path.

As he looked at it closer he noticed it was an outline of something vaguely humanlike, about as tall as him. And as just as soon as he saw it, it was gone. The light took the place where the darkness had sat on the wall and the atmosphere had gone back to normal.

  
  


It was approaching about 10 am when Harper woke up. Meaning he was even more behind schedule. He hoped that Sam wouldn’t tear him a new one as he began packing his things.

Moving up the mountain was much easier now, and with the winds calmed from the morning heat, he could finally fly the rest of the way up the mountain, taking at least an hour off of his travel time.

The entrance to the cave itself wasn’t anything spectacular, it was just a cave, a tad deeper than he expected but nothing that screams ‘ _ Hey! Something important is here! _ ’. He pulled out his journal again to check the notes that Elias had left him, making sure he knew what he was getting himself into. “ _ The statue itself looks nothing out of the ordinary, it looks like a miniature goddess statue, but don't be fooled, this thing is dangerous. Do NOT touch this thing with your bare hands, scoop it up with your bag or something, I don’t care how you do it, just get it done _ ”. Harper closed the journal and went his way into the cave with a new torch.

The journey into the cave was relatively mundane, not even a trap or two to make it exciting. It was only when he got to the last room did something happen. The door to the room was old, older than even the cave itself, it was like if you even glanced at it it would crumble to flakes. Surprisingly, Harper was able to open the door with a few good tugs, and behind it was something that both confused and scared Harper. The way behind the frame was pure black, again, his torch could not pierce the darkness. He went to touch it to make sure it wasn't a solid wall, but his hand went into the dark with no resistance. This had to be the place where the statue was. With much hesitation, Harper walked into the room. 

The same feeling that overcame him in the cave was back, and more magnified, like this was the source of it, whatever ‘it’ was. Harper moved slowly through the room, feeling for anything to guide his way. Despite holding his torch out in front of him, he could not see, like a hand had been placed over his eyes while he moved. Using the wall as his guide, Harper moved along the room, being careful not to set off any traps or alert any unforeseen creature of his presence. 

And suddenly, as his hand brushed along something wooden engraved into the wall, the light was back, like a lantern had been lit he could see. Harpers’ eyes took a moment to adjust to the new brightness in the unfamiliar room. Once his eyes adjusted he looked to where his hand had passed on the wall.

It was a statue.  _ The _ statue. The one he was explicitly told not to touch.  _ The one that he had just touched.  _ Harper sat in that room, waiting to succumb to some type of poison or burst into flames, maybe even just die for no explainable reason, but nothing happened. Harper sat in that room for a while, examining the markings on the wall that was in a language Harper could not fully understand. After several minutes of staring at the statue, and after finally deciding he wasn't going to spontaneously combust, he used his dagger to pry the thing out of the wall. After a moment of struggle, it popped out like a cork from a wine bottle, sadly without the satisfying ‘ _ pop! _ ’. 

As Harper reached for his torch, he realized that he did not entirely remove the darkness from the room, as behind him there was still a shadow on the wall. It was the same one Harper had seen in the cave, except not it was more… animated, alive even. Seemingly twitching at random. Harper was going to ignore it since that was the only option he really had, but for a moment, he thought he saw something new about it. And then he realized, it was no longer just a shadow on the wall, it was  _ in the room with him _ . And it wasn't just a creature in the room with him, it  _ was _ him. A mimic of him displayed through a twisted mirror, it copied his movements perfectly as he began to move to the door.

He almost got away unscathed, but the shadow rushed him, moved at a speed he couldn’t fathom. As the shadow passed through him, a wave of weakness washed over him, his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor, falling unconscious.

  
  


“Harper!” He heard his name and he jolted up, still unfamiliar with his surroundings, he saw a blur of color rushing towards him and he scrambled backward not knowing what was going on. “Hey Woah, calm down man, it's me” Harper recognized the voice, and he let his heart slow as Cassidy walked closer to him. “Jesus dude are you ok? You look like you just died”, Harper nodded, finding his balance, “How the hell did you get here?” Harper asked as he scoped the statue up with his bag, ignoring the shaking all over his body, “I flew here, now do you wanna explain why you’ve been gone for so long?” Harper sighed and stood up, “I’ll tell you on the way back, can we just go?”, Cassidy could hear the urgency in his voice, and he nodded, “Yeah, let’s go, this place gives me the creeps”

  
  
  


The relief harper felt as he entered the rickety old bar was unlike he had ever felt before, he walked over to his bed and lied down falling asleep almost instantly. Cassidy walked over to bring him a blanket when he noticed something on his hand, a burn mark, kind of, it was more like a Marking, and the more he stared at it the more he realized he was right. “Cass?” he heard Jessie from behind him, “hmm? oh, hey what’s up?”, “Whatcha lookin’ at?”, Cassidy paused, “It’s nothing”

  
  


The next morning was uneventful with Emily out on a job and Jessie doing whatever it is that she does when she’s not at the base. Elias was most likely training, and Cassidy had left early for some reason or another, Harper wasn’t really paying attention. This left Harper with almost nothing to do other than work on his sword skills.

As he walked on to their makeshift training grounds, Elias was nowhere to be seen. This left Harper with the ability to do more… experimental ideas without being judged too harshly. He grabbed a short-sword from the weapon rack and began working on normal techniques for sword fighting.

As Harper had gone for a bolder swing, he misjudged the length of his sword and tripped, falling beak-first into the dirt. 

As he got up he heard the all too familiar laughing of Elias behind him, “You know it's rude to sneak up on people, right?”, “How cute coming from you, don't you get  _ paid  _ to sneak up on people?”, Harper dusted himself off, “I'm impressed you think Sam actually pays me”, Elias walked up the Aaracokra and helped him to his feet, “True, anyways your form is awful but I don't think you need  _ me  _ to tell you that,” Harper scowled, “So did you come here to poke fun at me or do you want to help me then if my form is so bad”. Elias thought for a moment and then shrugged, “Sure why not, here, stand like this”, “Wait wha-”, 

Harper had no time to react as Elias came up behind him and started to adjust his stance, moving his arms and legs into a more ‘accurate’ position.

“OK perfect,” he moved in front of the bird and unsheathed his broadsword, “Hit me”, “Hit you?”, Elias chuckled, “Don’t worry, I can take a hit or two, not that I think you’ll be able to hit me anyways”, Harper began to get aggravated with Elias’ attitude, so with all of his strength he swung at him. Unsurprisingly, Elias blocked the blow, “You gotta try harder than that” he heard him talking, and it just kept getting more and more annoying. 

As Harper went in for another swing, he felt something inside him… shift… like he had something inside him unlock that he didn’t know was there. And as he zoned back in he realized that Elias had a look of confusion on his face, “Harper?” he dropped his sword and looked around, “Uh, yeah? What’s up?”, as Harper spoke, Elias jumped and looked around more frantically, “Where the fuck are you?”, “What do you mean, I’m right in front of you” Harper reached out a hand to shove the other, and that's when he saw it. His hand was black, not the same black as his feathers, but a more viscous look, almost like a void, almost like….

No,  _ exactly  _ like a shadow. As he looked himself over he realized that his entire body, weapon, all of him was exactly the same.

It was like the same one he saw in the cave.

He was the shadow

**Author's Note:**

> hehe, bird boy


End file.
